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Speak Out
February 2016
Speech Pathology Australia
The National Registration and Accreditation Scheme (NRAS)
was set-up by governments to largely address safety concerns
in health care delivery. As such, governments have seen no
need to regulate many allied health professions which they
view as ‘low risk’ to the Australian public. However, public
expectation is that all health professionals are registered.
In 2007, eight allied health professions formed an alliance –
the National Alliance of Self-Regulating Health Professions
(NASRHP) - to develop a comprehensive set of standards and
to provide consistent governance across self-regulating health
professions. SPA is a founding member of this group.
Protection to the public will be provided through the NASRHP
Self-Regulation Framework via practitioner certification through
the peak professional body (in our case, CPSP membership
of SPA). The peak professional body for the health profession
administers functions equivalent to (and in some cases, to a
higher standard) than those of NRAS.
NASRHP has developed a framework of best practice
standards to be applied to self-regulating allied health
profession associations. These standards cover:
1. Scope (areas) of practice
2. Code of Ethics/practice and/or professional conduct
3. Complaints procedures
4. Mandatory declarations
5. Professional indemnity insurance
6. Competency standards
7. Practitioner certification requirements
8. Course accreditation
9. Recency and resumption of practice requirements
10. English language requirement
11. Continuing professional development.
NASRHP member bodies (including SPA) are in the process
of advocating to governments that they formally recognise
the NASRHP Self-Regulation Framework by which authorised
professional associations assess and accredit practitioners
against these standards. In essence, we are seeking
government and legislative recognition that we self-regulate
our profession to the same standards as those of professions
required to be regulated under NRAS.
As the speech pathology profession embarks
on discussions about its future through the
Speech Pathology
2030 – making futures happen
project, it is timely to update
you on issues relating to the regulation of the quality and safety
of the profession.
Members often ask what SPA is doing about national
registration. At the heart of this question lie legitimate
concerns about how our profession is perceived and
concerns about the unintended consequences of not being
a registered profession, including potential lost opportunities
only available to registered practitioners. We do, and will
continue, to advocate for national registration and in its
absence, recognition that our self-regulation processes are an
appropriate equivalent.
You also have an important part to play in raising awareness
and correcting mis-information about how the quality of
our practice is achieved. You can inform clients, potential
employers and colleagues that we are not required to have
additional regulation of our professional practice through
national registration. You can also explain that CPSP
membership of SPA is the marker to tell if someone is a
high quality and safe practitioner of the speech pathology
profession.
Quality and Safety Regulation Update
Recognition of Self-Regulating Health Professions
association news